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What If I Don’t Have Enough Experience?

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How do you transition into a new career or start your own business when you don’t feel you have enough experience or relevant experience?

Video Transcript:

How do you transition into a new career or start your own business when you don’t feel you have enough experience or relevant experience?

Maybe you’ve spent the majority of your career so far working in a different field that you might not feel is related.

Does that just mean that you should give up on your dreams or is there some kind of intelligent approach that you could use to actually get started?

That’s what this video is gonna be all about, so keep watching.

Don’t give up on your dreams yet!

My name is Rikke Hansen. I’ve spent the last 10 years plus advising hundreds of aspiring career changers and entrepreneurs just like you, and here’s an interesting thing I’ve noticed:

Most people already have enough experience to (at least) get started.

This especially the case if you’re open to things like freelancing, starting your own business, and doing it on the side whilst you get the experience you need.

What’s really interesting is that out the hundreds of clients I’ve worked with over the years, only a few of them end up moving into something they hadn’t done before in their career or in their life in some capacity. The majority were already doing their thing – Somehow.

They might just have called it something else, but they were already doing it.

It was a natural thing, that they either were naturally drawn to, or naturally good at.

I bet that might be the case for you as well.

The issue is really rarely whether you have enough experience or relevant experience.

The issue actually tends to be, and the mistake most career changers make, is that they don’t take the time and they rarely get the professional advice to sit down and actually look at doing the translation piece to show your future employer, your future client, how what you’ve done so far is actually relevant to where you’re going next.

So keep watching and I’ll show you the 3 areas that you need to focus on right now.

I know from experience that these are the 3 areas that make a real difference:

#1 Can you get results and can you solve real problems?

Whether it’s for yourself or for others.

Also, have you done it in a way that’s related to where you want to go next?

#2 Have you already got a public track record of getting results, of solving problems?

Or, are you willing to start building one and then continue adding to that track record?

#3 Are you willing to create a virtual breadcrumb trail?

So you can control the conversation that’s happening when people Google you as to what your work identity is.

Those are the 3 areas that we’ll go through step by step.

#1 Can you get results and can you solve real problems?

Number one is very straightforward. If you think about it, when it comes to any job or any company, it’s all around solving problems and getting results, right?

A clear “before” and a clear “after.”

So think about your life, either outside or inside of work related to the subject you want to move into next: What is the skillset you’ve used the most to actually get results or to solve problems?

Because here’s the deal: You naturally have a phenomenal skillset that you will use again and again no matter what career or what profession you’re in.

It might even be that you’ve already used the skillset in the arena you want to go into next, which tends to be a subject.

Advanced Tip:

Here’s quite an advanced tip- It’s especially for those of you who are considering starting your own company:

How many blogs are you following right now and/or how many brands or products are buying because you love the story behind that brand, that personal story about it – The “before” and “after” story?

Think about, you might right now be following a health blogger or a fitness blogger who weren’t necessarily always in health or fitness – But they have a personal story of having a health or a fitness issue, and then they solved it, and now they’ve got the solution, and you’re like:

“Hey. I want some of that. I’m having what she’s having!”

Right?

Because they’ve very clearly showed you the before and the after AND the service or the product they can offer you to get there (too).

That is what I want you to think about in your own life of where you want to go now.

Have you achieved a transformation for yourself that you can now offer other people, or can you start doing it?

A couple of brands come to mind where people actually have totally irrelevant backgrounds, but they made the transition, and what they’re now selling is that transformation.

Spanx – Sara Blakely didn’t work in the lingerie industry.

She was a fax machine sales person.

But she had a problem. She wanted to get underwear that would enable her to wear a tight dress without worrying about her pot belly popping out. So she snipped off the legs of a pair of tights.

She solved her own problem and then she commercialised it.

Nobody gave a flying fart about whether she worked in lingerie before, because her story was so bloody good, that she could buy the expertise in to start a company for it.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Same thing with one of the really big success stories in the UK retail wise – The White Company.

Now the lady (Chrissie Rucker) who started that used to be a journalist. She didn’t have any experience of retail, but when she moved in with her boyfriend, they just decided they were going to make everything white, as they had very different interior tastes.

She therefore had to go to 20 different stores to get white things. You know white towels, white furniture, white fabric, everything for the home, and she was like:

“Why not just open a store where you can buy everything in white.
Instead of having to go to 20 different shops!”

Chrissie Rucker is now one of the biggest retail success stories in the UK.

She used to be a journalist.

Then she solved a real problem in her own life.

Found a solution.

She started offering that as a business, and people were interested.

So you see where I’m going with this?

Where have you already had results in your own life solving a problem for yourself?

Maybe you’ve already started doing that for others?

That is where you start, look at where are you already really good at problem solving, and where are you really good at getting results, and then start pairing that with the subject you want to move into. You can already start that now.

#2 Have you already got a track record of getting results, of solving problems?

Start to create and keep building a public track record of testimonials and case studies, so it’s not just you talking about how great you are, and it’s not just you talking about the fact that you’ve got the relevant skillset, that you can solve problems, provide solutions.

As soon as you can, I want you to start getting clients, getting contracts, where you’re starting doing your new thing, getting known for your new thing with other people.

Get known for doing your new thing with other people!

You can absolutely do it – Generally, the majority of my clients they start doing this on the side while they have a full time job, so it’s absolutely possible.

You just need to decide what your key priority is right now.

Whether that’s getting a contract, whether that’s getting clients on the side to finesse that new product or service or that new expertise you want to gather and move into.

Make sure you get their feedback, their testimonials and their case studies AND that you post them in public places like LinkedIn or Instagram for social proof (more in #3).

That’s something that no matter what area you get into, you want keep building that over time, that endorsement from a third party. Okay?

#3 Are you willing to create a virtual breadcrumb trail?

Number three is to start building a virtual breadcrumb trail.

What I mean by that is that if right now, someone were to Google you, what is the professional identity that comes up for you?

It might be your CV, your LinkedIn profile, that you probably haven’t updated to reflect where you want to go next. That is where you really want to focus on!

Here is what I always say to my clients:

Remember:

How you present yourself should not be a rehash of the past with the language that your employer or your industry chose for you.

The way you present yourself should always be in the light of the future, with the lingo and with the relevant information that they would expect from you.

So YOU need to do the translation piece!

Don’t just rely on your CV or on recruitment consultants and a few people you know.

OWN the online space!

Depending on where your future clients hang out, where your future employers hang out, choose the platform, the social platform they use the most, and start dominating that one.

Then start talking about yourself with that new expertise and that new identity. Share the testimonials, share the case studies, and start publicly and virtually building that identity.

For those of you out there who might be more shy or introverted, don’t worry. The internet, the virtual space, was made for introverts. You don’t even have to get out from behind your computer whilst you’re building it, apart from the networking bit, which you know I’m hot on.

Just get started building that virtual breadcrumb trail.

Because the thing is, when people Google you, it’s big platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram profiles that will get picked up on, and I want to make sure that when I Google you, you are on those platforms talking about yourself with that new identity. It is absolutely possible.

I know this might seem like advanced stuff, but here’s the deal: You just do it step by step.

Here’s what I really want you to think about:

A year from now, if you start today, you will have one year’s public experience.

If you don’t start today, and if you don’t start over the next year, a year from now you look back, and I can guarantee that you will regret that you didn’t take action.

So start with these 3 things:

#1: Can you get results for yourself and others, and can you prove the before and after? Start doing that now.

#2 Start building testimonials, start getting case studies, start getting public proof from other people that you can do this. Become known for your new thing.

#3 Start building a virtual breadcrumb trail, so you can control what’s being said about you online about your work identity. That’s really how this works.

I know some of you might be still worried: “Oh, but do I really have enough experience? Should I retrain at this stage?”

I’ve got a one pager over there for really finessing that business idea, that career change idea, so come on over. Sign up for that one.

Let me help you. You don’t have to go this alone.

Also if you like this video, please Like it, Subscribe to the channel, and Share with your friends – Hint – If you are reading this on my website, I suggest signing up for my newsletter where you get exclusive content just for subscribers – You can do that via the box below this post.

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About

HI! I'M RIKKE HANSENTransition Advisor, Entrepreneur & Speaker (AND a Danish Londoner). I help entrepreneurs in transition (new and experienced) nail down WHAT they really want to do. If you are looking for the frank advice, clarity and focus you need to make the right choice and move on, then let’s talk!